A former football player at Vanderbilt University was found guilty on Saturday in the rape of an unconscious woman in his dormitory room nearly three years ago, reports The Tennessean.
The former player, Brandon Vandenburg, is one of four men who have been charged in the case. He and one of the others, Cory Batey, were convicted in a trial in January 2015, but those verdicts were thrown out after revelations regarding one of the jurors led to a mistrial. At a second trial, held in April, Mr. Batey was found guilty of aggravated rape and other charges. He faces a mandatory minimum prison term of 15 to 25 years at his sentencing, which is scheduled for next month.
In Mr. Vandenburg’s case, the jury deliberated 4½ hours before delivering its verdicts on Saturday night. He was found guilty on all eight counts against him, including aggravated rape, aggravated sexual battery, and unlawful photography, the newspaper said. He, too, faces a sentence of 15 to 25 years. A sentencing date has not been set.
Two other accused men, Jaborian (Tip) McKenzie and Brandon E. Banks, have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
The charges against all four stem from an incident that occurred in Mr. Vandenburg’s dorm room in June 2013 after he and the victim had partied at a bar.
In emotional testimony on Friday, the victim said she did not remember a period of hours between sipping a drink that Mr. Vandenburg had given her at the bar and waking up in his bed the next morning, alone and in pain. She said that at first she believed what Mr. Vandenburg had told her: that she had become sick from drinking and that he had taken care of her.
Several days later, detectives who had seen surveillance video of her being carried into Mr. Vandenburg’s dorm persuaded her to go to a hospital for a rape examination.
Vanderbilt is among scores of colleges that are being investigated for possible violations of the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX in their handling of allegations of sexual violence. See more about the Vanderbilt case and other investigations on The Chronicle’s Title IX Tracker.
Also see an article by Katherine Mangan in The Chronicle about two other high-profile cases of campus sexual assault involving athletes.
